Well I had to include this pic of me and Bernice with our matching books, right? There’s nobody in the world doesn’t know we’re planning to run an ultramarathon next summer is there? Being sensible us, we’ve read race reports on people’s blogs, checked it all out, had a planning meeting AND bought books. I had a poke around looking at the millions of how-to books here and this was written by a woman and praised by some of the ultrarunners I admire, so I went for it.

Oh and this won’t be one I take to the next book swap at running club. This one’s with me for the foreseeable!

Krissy Moehl – “Running Your First Ultra”

(01 October 2018)

Moehl has been running ultras for over a decade, and shares interesting stories about starting out running with the guys, with kit that was barely adapted for women, and the changes she’s seen in the sport over the years. I really loved this personal aspect in what is very definitely a how-to book with multiple training plans (as opposed to one of the many ultrarunning autobiographies I seem to have filled my running reading with).

She’s also risk-averse, sensible, cheerful but not over-the-top and calmly convinced that (with a bit of help from her) we can do it. She’s all about the mental as well as the physical aspects and there’s a wealth of exceptionally practical information. She even explains how ultramarathon training is different from marathon training: for a start, you’re not expected to run 70-80% of your distance in training as you do in marathon running (typically I will get to 23 miles before a marathon; we are planning to slot in a marathon before this race, but that will be a one-off rather than several goes around that distance). There are little lists throughout about what, for example, she always takes with her on a longer training run, as well as formal packing and support team lists at the end.

The training plans are packed full of information, inspiration and tips and hints – something to read and concentrate on every week and lots to learn from. At the back are lots of details about your support crew (we won’t need this this time, but the plans go up to 100 miles), with a big emphasis on smiling when you see them and being appreciative and grateful, something Moehl is big on the whole way through (she also advocates volunteering at races and working on trail maintenance as well as respecting what we call the Countryside Code here in the UK. All good stuff.) There’s a great section on how you actually do the run, including race etiquette, choosing whether to run with music, etc. and a great early section on thoughts that can work against you (what if I feel I can’t finish?) and what you can do about them (including a sensible attitude towards injury).

There’s a chapter on recovery which I will read this time (well, I have read it, but I will remind myself after the race). Somewhat famously, I didn’t research how to recover after a marathon when I did my first one, as I wasn’t entirely convinced I was going to do the thing until I was actually on the start line, and went racing about almost doing myself a mischief until I finally slowed down!

I only have one small criticism and that is that somewhere in the production process of the copy I have, some fairly awful typos slipped in. I couldn’t see anything that affected the actual running content, but it’s hard not to be disconcerted when you find so many errors (and I’m not THAT editor, it really has to be bad to have me mentioning it). Maybe the proof text slipped through to the finished product. As a fairly experienced runner, I could see it doesn’t affect the content and practical information, but I’d hate the great content to be undermined by someone worrying that uncaught writing errors could reflect errors in the advice.

This is a great and inspiring book which, although the training schedules look tough and I can promise everyone now I will not be running five to six times a week, ever, has plenty of relatable and doable information which I have no doubt will make our path to our ultra a lot clearer and more copable with.

I’ve moved on to a VERY doomy Mary Webb which I know isn’t going to end well (OK there’s a pet animal, so I looked). “Gone to Earth” is luminous and wild and weird and a good read nonetheless. What’s the best how-to book you’ve read to help with a hobby?

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How-to books can be fun! I have a few because I dabble in arty-crafty stuff sometime- very badly, but I enjoy it. I have a beautiful book called “The Complete Decorated Journal” which Middle Child got me, which is full of wonderful inspiration when I’m in the right mood, and makes me feel totally inadequate when I’m in the wrong one!!!

Sounds like a really useful book with advice for running ultras! What is up with all the typos these days? Sometimes I get preproduction books and I get that but once they’ve been published, there’s no excuse for that.

Good for you going Ultra! After my recent half I’ve decided to go short and stick to 5ks from now on – lol! It is a shame about the typos as this sounds like the kind of reassuring and cheering advice that you’ll want to turn to again and again in the months to come.

Oh, was it not fun? There might have been an issue you could address fairly simply for next time, but appreciate different distances are for different people. And yes, I can fortunately ignore the typos because I can tell the advice is good but that wouldn’t necessarily apply to a total novice (the plan I have is for people who haven’t run a marathon yet).

It was fun running with my friend, but I was woefully undertrained so it was more of a struggle than it should have been. I did have an epiphany on the way round though, and that is that I just don’t like running on roads. I’m planning on building up a solid 5k over the winter, and will do parkrun when I can, but beyond that I think I’ll be heading off-road for some mud and solitude!

Oh dear, not fun. If off-road is your thing, there are plenty of opportunities for that and it is fun, isn’t it (I just got some trail shoes for that purpose). As long as you’re enjoying it, that’s the main thing. There are some v traily off-road parkruns around, too!

Glad this book turned out to be so good for you. Krissy Moehl does seem to have a sensible, relatable approach. Pity about the typos. I don’t think I have ever read a book to help with a hobby. I can’t think of one.